Upon flashing a Windows 10/11 ISO, Rufus allows you to bypass TPM, automatically create a local user account, and disable data collection automatically right out of the box. What does it use to do this, and how can I replicate it myself?
Is it possible to apply the customizations Rufus applies to the Windows installer (e.g. data collection bypass, local account creation) to an ISO that can be loaded in Ventoy?
Yes. Rufus uses an answer file (unattend.xml) to do its thing. You can see what it does in wue.c.
You can also modify your Windows installation image in many other ways, you can find more about that around the net.
To get ready to modify stuff, simply copy the ISO file contents to your HDD/SSD. By default, double-clicking the ISO file will mount it and you can then simply use Windows Explorer to do the job. Make sure the path you are copying to has no spaces in it!
After you are done modifying, you must create a new ISO file. To do this, you need Windows Deployment Tools, which are part of the Windows Assessment and Development Kit, which you can download here. For this simple task, the version shouldn’t matter too much. When installing, you only need to select Deployment Tools. Run Deployment and Imaging Tool Environment from your Start menu as administrator (important). Then, run the following command, substituting paths as required:
oscdimg.exe -m -o -u2 -udfver102 -bootdata:2#p0,e,bX:\My_Windows_11\boot\etfsboot.com#pEF,e,bX:\My_Windows_11\efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin X:\My_Windows_11 X:\My_Windows_11.iso
